Apples and Paintbrushes: A Sort-of Romance
by L's Muse
Summary: This is a peek at a project I'm beginning for a friend of mine. It's a sort-of romance between Ryuk and (oh no!) an OC. I'm not much for OC-stories, but here I am writing one. This is just a quick look, nothing set in stone. I'd like to see reactions and whether I pique anybody's interest. *Details from Death Note ARE changed, such as the Task Force remaining in the Headquarters.*


"_Finally_!" Sarah grabbed an apple and plopped down on the couch. She rolled her eyes. "I thought you'd _never _get that Yagami bitch to leave." She rubbed the fruit with her sleeve and eyed it skeptically. She'd washed it already, but the green ones always seemed to be a bit...sneaky with the wax. Shrugging, Sarah bit into it.

"Yeah, he's a bit clingy," said Ryuk, leaning over the fruit basket and moving his hand over it. Sarah didn't quite know why he selected apples like that. None of them would live to see another day (or, more accurately, another hour), so where was the sense in being picky? But he did it anyway. He pulled up a large Red Delicious by the stem and looked over at Sarah. "He makes it seem like I'm the one stalking him. But it's gotta go the other way sometimes, right?" Ryuk then proceeded to hold the apple over his open mouth and- plop- drop it straight in. He swallowed it whole, his custom with the first few apples in such a large bunch, and looked back up with a groan.

Sarah grinned. She noted the fact that Ryuk was simply covering the fact that it really was HIM who was stalking LIGHT...but she didn't want to defend that bastard. So, swallowing another bite of apple, she propped her feet on the coffee table and leaned back. "So why'd you do it?" She watched him drop another apple into his mouth before he glanced back at her.

"What? Oh, the thing with the Death Note?" Amusement tinted Ryuk's gravelly voice as he sifted through the basket. He pulled out two apples, one slightly spotted, the other a crisp crimson. He glanced back-and-forth between them. "You know...it's been about three years since that L guy got knocked off. Nothing's really happened, and it's boring just sitting around. So I picked up a companion for my own." With that, he tossed both apples into his mouth together.

Sarah raised an eyebrow and smiled, dubious. "Is that your _exact _thought process? Seems a bit much. You come here out of boredom, get tired of hanging out with Light, and go off to find somebody else to pester? Right..." She bit her apple, laughing to herself. She chose to skip over the obvious question of, 'why did you choose ME to pester?' in favor of lighter questions which would lead her to the answer conclusively.

"Well, I could follow Light around- er, let him follow me?- in that big building, but how much fun would that be? I'd rather be damned before I hear 'we're heading to such-and-such for lunch today' and 'Oh Hell! What is _that_?!' again." He began gnawing on an apple, lifting the basket and standing closer to the couch. "It's obvious that _something _will happen _eventually_. You and I both know that Light can't get away with this forever, right? But until then, I'm just useless Ryuk. So I got someone else to hang out with until they begin to figure out Light's scheme."

"So this is all _completely_ random? No pre-planned routines or set events?" Sarah found this pretty hard to believe. She'd thought after all that rambling Ryuk had seen Light do, some of that criminal-mastermind planning would have rubbed off on him.

Speaking of rubbed off...a speck of wax from the apple skin touched Sarah's tongue momentarily, and she immediately spat it out. Not much else was said of this incidence. But, what it did supply was to Sarah's nerves. The Shinigami glanced up from the basket to check on her, before he looked right back at the apple in his hand.

"I wouldn't say that it wasn't pre-planned. I got you to touch the Death Note so you could see me and I could stay with you, so I guess that requires some thought. It's not as if that could be randomly staged." He popped the rest of the apple into his mouth and picked up the basket. He stuck his hand inside and retrieved one last apple. He growled and turned the basket over, shaking it. Realizing it was empty, Ryuk tossed it aside and looked at the apple.

Sarah bit away the last of the apple. "So you enjoy my company, then?"

"Quite a lot, actually. I find it quite a bit more fun compared to rooming with Light, even before the big slump." Sarah found her face getting a little hot as she watched Ryuk eat the last apple, enjoying it to the last seed.

"That...and you've bought me three baskets of apples in the past day and a half."

Even though she liked the way he was talking, she had to argue a _little_. "Even YOU can't be convinced to stay somewhere just because of apples."

Ryuk now looked at her straight in the eye and, in his deep, gravelly voice said, "Sarah, do you know gods of death love apples?"

She laughed a little and crossed her arms in feigned defiance. "We're all out of apples, Ryuk. You ate all of them."

Ryuk grinned and laughed quietly, almost in a chuckle, if such a thing were possible. "Oh? Not quite..."


End file.
